Convertible billing envelope with carbons for preparing statement and customer&#39;s address in duplicate



2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

S?. mohm SCHUMACHER STATEMENT AND CUSTOMERS ADDRESS IN DUPLICATE Nov. 19, 1963 CONVERTIBLE BILLING' ENVELOPE WITH CRBONS FOR PREPARING Filed Sept. l5, 1961 r roe/VE X United States Patent O 3,111,336 CNVERIIBLE BILLING ENVELOEE WTH CAR- BQNS FSR PREPARING STATEMENT AND CUSTMERS ABDRESS [N DUPLICATE David T. Schumacher, 1608 Strand, Hermosa Beach, Salif. Filed Sept. 13, 1961, Ser. No. 137,855 4 Claims. (Cl. 252-25) This invention relates to convertible billing envelopes one of which, on bein-g received by a customer and opened, is adapted to be converted into `a reply envelope in Which a check may be returned to the biller.

One such convertible envelope starts its journey with the writing of the statement or bill on the inside of the liap of the envelope, the writing of the customers address on the outside of the flap, the sealing of the ap, the placing of a stamp on the ilap and the mailing of the envelope. -On receiving the envelope, the customer opens the ilap, reads the statement, tears this off along a perforated line, thus exposing the printed address of the sender on the envelope therebeneath, encloses a check in the envelope paying the statement, applies a stamp, seals the gurnmed flap stub to the envelope and mails the latter back to the biller.

The customer is thus provided with a statement with his name and address on the back side, for his records. The return envelope, however, although transmitting the customers check to `the biller furnishes the biller -With no other identiiication of the customer nor any copy of the statement for which the check is in payment. Expensive errors thus may easily occur in crediting checks received to the Wrong account.

It is a major object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a convertible billing envelope equipped with carbon paper for Writing in duplicate, either the customers address or the statement, or both, when preparing the envelope for initial mailing, whereby both the customer and the biller will be provided with adequate identification of the transaction after it is consummated.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a convertible billing envelope which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, Iwhich is relatively foolproof in its use, and which involves a relatively small amount of labor in its preparation for mailing.

The manner of accomplishing the foregoing objects as well as further objects and advantages will be made manifest in the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

PEG. l is la plan view of a preferred embodiment of the invention unfolded with front face turned upwardly, as this appears prior to starting the preparation of the envelope for its initial mailing.

HG. 2 is an enlarged diagrammatic cross-sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. l.

PIG. 3 is a View similar to IFIG. l with the Secondary flap folded over the carbon paper provided on the primary flap and illustrating the customers address as this appears after this has been typed on the back face of the secondary ap so that a carbon impression of said address is produced by said carbon paper on the front face of said primary flap.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged diagrammatic cross-sectional view taken on the line 4 4 of FIG. 3 and illustrates the relationship of the various elements of the envelope of the invention at this time.

FlG. 5 is a plan view of the envelope of the invention at the conclusion of the next step in its preparation for initial mailing wherein the carbon employed in the step shown in FIG. 3 is removed from the envelope and the elements of the latter are folded together in a Z conformation with the front face of the secondary ilap dis- ICC posed upwardrnost and the envelope then placed in a typewriter to type on the front face of the :secondary ap the data of the statement to be sent to the customer, this data being duplicated by Vthe carbon overlying the front wall of the pocket of the envelope to produce a carbon copy of the said data on the front face of the front wall of said pocket.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged diagrammatic cross-sectional view taken on the line `6 6 of FIG. 5 and illustrates the relationship of the remaining parts of the original envelope remaining therein when the operation shown in FIG. 5 takes place.

iFIG. 7 is a plan view similar to FIG. l with the pieces of carbon paper removed from the envelope and showing the carbon copy of the oustomers address on the primary ilap and the carbon copy of the `data for the statement on the lfront wall of the pocket of the envelope, the envelope now being ready for folding and sealing.

FIG. 8 is a face view of the envelope after it has been sealed and stamped ready for lits initial mailing and illustrates the ribbon copy of the customers address as this appears on the reverse face of the secondary ilap which now forms the front of the envelope.

FIG. 9 is an `enlarged diagrammatic sectional view taken on the line 9 9 of FIG. 8 and illustrates the relationship of the various parts of the envelope of the invention when the lat-ter is ready for its initial mailing.

FIG. l0 is a plan View of the pocket portion of the envelope with the primary flap folded thereagainst and sealed thereto and with the secondary flap torn from the primary ilap along the perforated line joining the two, and with the pocket portion of the envelope inverted to present the large printed address of the biller appearing on the reverse face of the back wall of the pocket, which face now forms the front face of the envelope for carrying a check in payment of ,said statement back to the biller, said face being shown in this view as having been stamped in readiness for mailing the return envelope.

lBIG. 11 is an enlarged diagramamtic sectional view taken on the line 11-11 of FIG. 10 and illustrating the relationship shown in the latter view of the various elements of the envelope of the yinvention at the time that the return envelope has been completed for mailing a check back to the biller and the secondary flap has been removed Efor retention by the customer.

Referring speciiically to the drawings, the numeral 1S therein designates a preferred embodiment of the convertible envelope of the invention. This is preferably made of a single blank sheet of suitable paper in which are integrally connected a pocket front wall 16, a pocket back wall 17, a primary envelope flap 1S and a secondary envelope iiap lli. rhe pocket Walls 16 and 17 are integrally connected at their bottom edges and narrow lianges 2li provided on end edges of the pocket back wall are bent inwardly and glued to the pocket front wall to unite end edges of said pocket walls, to form a pocket P.

The pocket back wall 17 and primary envelope ap 13 are united integrally along a fold line 21. The primary envelope flap 18 and secondary envelope flap 19 are united integrally for folding along a perforated line 22. Adjacent the perforated line 22, the primary flap 18 is provided with a gummed area 23, Whereas secondary ap 19 has a similar gummed area 24 along its top edge, both of these gummed areas being on the front faces of said aps.

The front faces of pocket front wall 16 and primary envelope flap 1S are blank. Lightly secured to said faces by glue spots 25 along one side thereof are sheets of carbon paper 34B and 31, the carbon material on said sheets facing downwardly. The front face of secondary flap i9 has printed thereon a statement form 32 on which spaces are provided for entering a date and services and amounts due. Printed in the upper left corner of the back face of secondary envelope flap 19 (see FIGS. 3 and 8) is the billers name and return address 33. Printed on the back face of the pocket back wall 17 in somewhat larger type is the billers name and address 34. The back face of primary envelope flap 1S is blank.

It is to be understood of course that the convertible envelopes 15 of the invention are specially printed up for the use of any particul-ar biller. As thus printed up, these envelopes are used exclusively by him in sending out bills in his business.

Operation The successive steps followed in utilizing the convertible envelope 15 of the invention are consecutively illustrated in the several views of the drawings. FIG. 1, for instance, shows this envelope opened out front face up as it cornes in stacks from the printer. The only printed matter on the envelope not shown in FIG. 1 but which is already printed thereon are the return address 33 in the upper left corner of the back face of flap 19 and the large billers name and address 34 printed on the middle of the back face of pocket back wall 17 (FIG. l0).

The first step in using the envelope 15 in preparing it for sending a statement to a customer is to fold secondary flap 19 along the perforated line 22 so that said flap will overlie sheet of carbon paper 31 on ap 18 and present the back face of secondary flap 19 upwardly, the position of these parts now being as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The edge of the envelope 15 where the perforated line 22 is located is now fed through the typewriter and the customers address 40 typed on the middle portion of the back face of secondary flap 19 as shown in FIG. 3. This address is located to overlie carbon sheet 31 and the carbon produces a carbon copy 41 of this address on the front face of primary ap 18.

The next step in preparing the envelope 15 for embodying a statement to be mailed to a customer, is to tear the carbon sheet 31 loose from the glue spots 25 along its left edge and separating it completely from the envelope 15. In order to do this secondary flap 19 must be first unfolded to its original position shown in FIG. l. Following the removal of carbon sheet 31, the secondary ap 19 is shifted over carbon sheet 30 so that, during this movement, the pocket front wall 16, flap 18 and flap 19 will be related like the strokes of a Z to give the result shown in FIG. in which the flap 19, front face up, is directly superimposed over the fiap 18 and the pocket walls 16 and 17. The printed statement form 32 is thus presented upwardly. The envelope 15, thus folded, is now placed in the typewriter and data 42, comprising the date, service items and amounts necessary to complete the statement form 32, are typed therein, a carbon copy 43 of these being transmitted by the carbon sheet 3i) to the front face of front wall 16.

This completes all the typing necessary to be done in preparation of the envelope 15 and this is followed immediately by unfolding the flaps 18 and 19 from the pocket portion of the envelope, tearing olf the carbon sheet 30 from the front pocket wall 16 and throwing this carbon sheet away. FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate how the completely prepared envelope 15 appears prior to its being folded, sealed and stamped ready for mailing. Here we see that a sending address 40 of the customer is typed on the reverse face of secondary ap 19; statement data 42 has been typed on the statement form 32 on the front face of secondary flap 19 and carbon copies 41 and 43 respectively of said address and the data of said statement have been produced on the front faces respectively of the primary envelope ap 18 and the pocket front wall 16. The folding and sealing of the envelope is done by bending the primary flap 18 about the fold line 21 so that this ap overlies pocket front wall 1,6, and then bending the secondary ap 19 about the perforated Vline 22 to fold this flap dat against the back face of pocket back wall 17 and then moistening the gummed area 24 on ap 19 and sealing this to the back face of pocket back wall 17. The mailing face of the completed envelope now appears on the back face of secondary flap 19 which is exposed to view in FIG. 8 and on which a stamp must be placed in the upper right corner to complete the preparation of envelope 15 for its initial mailing.

As shown in the sectional view of FIG. 9 the envelope 15 is not designed for sending any enclosures with it to the customer although it is fully adapted for this and, if desired, advertising circulars and the like may be inserted in the pocket of the envelope before folding the same for initial mailing as above described.

Upon receipt of envelope 15, the customer to whom it is addressed opens the same by either tearing the envelope along perforated line 22 or separating the gummed edge of secondary flap 19 from its adhesion to the back face of pocket back wall 17. In either event, the customer ultimately completely separates secondary flap 19 from the rest of the envelope 15 and retains this flap as his record of the statement submitted by this letter. To pay this statement, the customer need merely make out a check 44 and slip it inside the pocket of the envelope, fold down primary flap 18 against pocket front wall 16 with the gummed area 23 moistened so as to retain the envelope sealed together. The printed main address 34 of the biller is now exposed on the back face of pocket back wall 17 of the envelope and the placing of a stamp in the upper right hand corner of this face readies the envelope for mailing back to the biller.

Among the advantages possessed by the present invention is that when this envelope is received by the biller through the mail he not only has a carbon copy 41 of the name and laddress o-'r the customer on the front face of the primary ap 18 but he also has a carbon duplicate 43 on the front yface of the pocket front wall 16 of the entries made in the statement rendered to the customer. This duplicate data enables the biller to keep his lrecords straight and assures the proper crediting of remittances returned in the envelope 1S with Ypractically no additional cost in the labor of preparing the envelope 1S for its initial mailing.

While the invention provides a means for thus giving this duplicate information to the biller right lwith the envelope at the time lit returns to him, and without any additional cost to him, it should be clear that the invention also embraces ygiving a canbon copy of only a part of this information if this should be adequate for any particular purpose to which the invention might be put.

While only a single preferred embodiment of the invention is disclosed herein, it is to be understood that various modifications and changes might lbe made in this without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

I cla-im:

l. A convertibile envelope comprising a pocket having front and rback paper walls joined together at their bottom and end edges; a primary flap joined at its bottom edge to the top edge of said back pocket wall; a secondary flap joined at its bottom edge to the top edge of said primary flap along a perforated line; and strips of carbon paper loosely secured to and overlying the front faces respectively of said front pocket wall and said primary flap with their carbon faces turned downwardly, whereby said secondary flap may ibe Afolded along said perforated line in over-lapping relation with the front face o-f said primary flap and the strip of carbon paper secured to the latter, and the address of an addressee typed on the external face of said secondary flap to produce a carbon copy thereof upon the internal face of said primary flap, and whereby said secondary flap may be unfolded from said overlying relation, said strip of carbon paper therebeneath removed Vfrom over said primary flap, the latter may then be folded into over-lapping relation iwith the la a front face of said front wall `of said pocket and the strip of carbon paper secured to the latter, and said secondary ap reversely folded to over-lie said primary ila-p, and a message typed on the now exposed face of said secondary ap to produce a carbon copy thereof yupon the front face of the front wall of said pocket.

2. A combination as recited in claim 1 wherein said Walls and flaps are `formed integral-ly of a single blank of paper and in which a strip of adhesive is provided on the front yface vof each of said aps along its top edge.

3. A combination as recited in claim 2 Where-in the Outside face of said back pocket Wall bears printed thereon, the address of the original sender of the envelope, said face being covered by said secondary -ap for an initial mailing of said envelope.

4. A convertible envelope provided to be mailed by an original sender to an addressee for transmitting a type- Written business message requiring a reply, said envelope comprising: front and back paper walls joined together at their Ibottom and end edges to form an envelope pocket; a primary -ap joined at its bottom edge to the top edge of said back pocket wall; a secondary flap joined at its bottom edge to the top edge of said primary flap along a perforated line; carbon paper means detachably attached to said envelope to facilitate typing duplicate addresses of said addressee on the reverse face lof said secondary flap and the front -face of said primary ap; ya second carbon paper means detachably attached to said envelope to facilitate, after said first carbon paper means has been detached from said envelope, the typing of duplicate business messages on the front face of said secondary ap and upon the outside face of said lfront Wall of said envelope; adhesive means for securing the free edge of said secondary ap to the back 'wall of said pocket when said flaps are wrapped forwardly around the latter, to close said pocket; and adhesive means, operative after said secondary ilap is separated from said primary ap along said perforated line, to secure the then Afree edge of said primary ap to said pocket when `said flap is folded against the front Wall of said pocket, to close said pocket, the outside rface of said rear Wall of said pocket being provided with the address of the original sender lof said envelope to `facilitate the remailing of said envelope to the `original sender.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,302,992 Gardner Nov. 24, 1942 2,558,813 Brechner July 3, 1951 2,678,769 David May 18, 1954 2,964,233 McFarland Dec. 13, 1960 

1. A CONVERTIBLE ENVELOPE COMPRISING A POCKET HAVING FRONT AND BACK PAPER WALLS JOINED TOGETHER AT THEIR BOTTOM AND END EDGES; A PRIMARY FLAP JOINED AT ITS BOTTOM EDGE TO THE TOP EDGE OF SAID BACK POCKET WALL; A SECONDARY FLAP JOINED AT ITS BOTTOM EDGE TO THE TOP EDGE OF SAID PRIMARY FLAP ALONG A PERFORATED LINE; AND STRIPS OF CARBON PAPER LOOSELY SECURED TO AND OVERLYING THE FRONT FACES RESPECTIVELY OF SAID FRONT POCKET WALL AND SAID PRIMARY FLAP WITH THEIR CARBON FACES TURNED DOWNWARDLY, WHEREBY SAID SECONDARY FLAP MAY BE FOLDED ALONG SAID PERFORATED LINE IN OVER-LAPPING RELATION WITH THE FRONT FACE OF SAID PRIMARY FLAP AND THE STRIP OF CARBON PAPER SECURED TO THE LATTER, AND THE ADDRESS OF AN ADDRESSEE TYPED ON THE 